- People of Illinois, you have a good man representing you in Congress. Well, some of you do. And by good man, take that to mean a guy who can rock a suit and issue pithy (and accurate) comments on the sad state of governing bodies for college athletics. Meet Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), serving the Land of Lincoln’s 1st district in Congress since 1993 and unleashing scathing criticisms of the National Collegiate Athletic Association since this past weekend. Rush, speaking at a congressional forum on college sports called to look at the impact of "back-room deals, payoffs and scandals" in college sports, needed an extreme example to compare the corrupt, hypocritical NCAA to and Rush swung for the fences. He likened the NCAA to the Mafia over how it controls the lives of student athletes and didn’t hesitate in making the comparison. "I think you would compare the NCAA to Al Capone and to the Mafia," Rush said. His remarks came after hearing from a couple of mothers of student athletes who complained of ill treatment by schools after their sons suffered injuries. In truth, his words could apply to any number of policies and rules maintained and enforced by the NCAA: making millions of dollars on merchandise and television deals while giving none to players, not allowing athletes to sign autographs for money or capitalize on their fame in any tangible way…….and the list goes on and on. Rush is not the first nor will he be the last elected official to grandstand on issues related to the NCAA, but that doesn’t make his comments any less accurate or appropriate. Drop any NCAA official into a pinstriped suit, give them a derby hat and an Italian-sounding name and the mafia connection isn't much of a stretch………….
- Seeing as we’re already headed into a world where timeliness, convenience and ease of use trump all, this next leap forward from science is only logical. From the brilliant scientific minds who developed the atomic bomb and Kevlar underwear comes the latest in military technology: caffeinated meat. An Army lab in Massachusetts is now testing a beef jerky stick that looks and tastes just like the salty, cured-meat goodness of a Slim Jim but contains an equivalent of a cup of coffee’s worth of caffeine to help sleepy soldiers stay awake and aware. A little-known research facility outside Boston is behind the work, looking for ways to transform the field ration — known as the Meal, Ready to Eat, or MRE - into something that tastes good but is also full of energy-enhancing ingredients. “There is a lot of science that goes into this,” said David Accetta, a spokesman for the Natick Soldier Research, Development & Engineering Center, where every item put into an MRE is tested and tasted. “And that’s what a lot of people don’t realize. It’s not just a bunch of cooks in the kitchen making up recipes.” Along with caffeine, military technologists are lacing food with supplements such as omega 3s and curcumin, which act as anti-inflammatories. Their work has led to the addition of Maltodextrin, a complex carbohydrate that provides extra energy, to applesauce to created a turbo-boosted variant called Zapplesauce. The MRE has long been a source of complaints from military members, bound by restrictions such as being able to stay edible for a shelf life of three years at 80 degrees and withstand an airdrop from thousands of feet. Of late, MRE variations have grown to include chicken and pesto pasta, feta cheese and tomato, ratatouille, garlic mashed potatoes, salsa verde and a strawberry-banana dairy shake. How good are these military meals? A food critic for a Boston newspaper wrote, “The pasta is tender but not falling apart, the sauce dense and sweet, similar to many commercial sauces.” That makes sense, as military food technologists study menus at T.G.I. Friday’s and Applebee’s for inspiration. These technologists work in what is known as the combat-food department, complete with hairnets and aprons. Once a meal is deemed acceptable, it is taken to military bases across the country and service members fill out a 17-question survey after sampling sessions. Listening to those who will be consuming the meals seems like a solid idea, especially after complaints about MREs became so plentiful during Operation Desert Storm in the early ’90s that Gen. Colin Powell, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, summoned the food technologists from the Massachusetts lab to the Pentagon and delivered a succinct message: “I have two words for you: Fix it.” If only Powell could have known that his prompt would some day lead to caffeine-laden beef jerky………….
- Way to step it up, Syria. The world is pissed at you, your leader is a tyrannical fascist and you may as well go ahead and plant plenty of land mines along your border with Lebanon to further seal yourself off from the world. Bashar Assad's totalitarian regime has been badly rattled since an uprising began nearly eight months ago and Assad has been taking increasingly desperate measures to reinforce his once-iron grip on the country of 22 million people at the heart of the Arab world. A Syrian official speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed that troops were laying the mines, saying they were aimed at stopping weapons smuggling into the country during the uprising. "Syria has undertaken many measures to control the borders, including planting mines," the unidentified official confirmed. Witnesses on the Lebanese side of the border also confirmed that Syrian forces were spotted planting mines, which could pose a major problem not only for weapons smugglers but also for refugees fleeing Syria's deadly military assault on protesters and by Syrians who have jobs and families on the Lebanese side, both of whom use the mountains and hills along the frontier to cross over. Planting mines is typically viewed as a move of desperation and that time has clearly come for Syria. Preventing its people from fleeing en masse to Lebanon for a safe, non-fascist haven from persecution would be embarrassing. Assad has become über-paranoid and has even warned world powers that the entire Middle East will go up in flames if there is any foreign intervention in his country. Syria’s shared borders with five countries and its ties to Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement and Iran's Shiite theocracy could well make that statement prophetic. Efforts to intervene by the 22-nation Arab League have had little impact and the installation of mines would suggest Syria isn't listening to anyone but its dictator. The mines appear to have been planted in two main areas in and around the restive province of Homs, which has endured some of the worst bloodshed in the conflict. If they work, maybe the United States has a new solution for keeping illegals from streaming across its border with Mexico………….
- Not everyone is a fan of the digital music age. This group is not entirely restricted to snobby hipsters who love things ironically and enjoy being better than everyone else, meaning their vinyl collections are infinitely cooler than your iTunes playlist. Pete Townshend, aging rock star/confirmed pedophile/bassist for one of the greatest rock bands ever, is no fan of the digital music revolution. In a Halloween-appropriate analogy, Townshend said iTunes "bleeds [artists' works] like a digital vampire" at the inaugural BBC 6 Music John Peel Lecture. His argument is that iTunes should hire 20 talent scouts "from the dying record business" and provide artists with more than just a storefront by which to sell their tunes coldly and digitally to the masses. "Is there really any good reason why, just because iTunes exists in the wild west internet land of Facebook and Twitter, it can't provide some aspect of these services to the artists whose work it bleeds like a digital vampire, like a digital Northern Rock, for its enormous commission?" Townshend said. In other words, function more like a label and less like a marketplace. It’s an interesting idea, but one Apple would have no interest in because it would mean more effort and expenditures for not a lot of additional profit. Townshend’s other major beef with the digital age is piracy. He complained the Internet is "destroying digital copyright as we know it" and that illegal downloaders "may as well come and steal my son's bike while they're at it." Huh? What does some $200 Huffy your son sticks baseball cards in the spokes of because it makes a cool noise have to do with them downloading music illegally? If the argument is that both are taking money out of an artist’s pocket…….a) Townshend does know that his band hasn’t released new material in years to be illegally downloaded and most of those doing the downloading are too young to care much about The Who and b) artist make a minimal amount of their money from album sales, digital or otherwise. Most revenue comes from touring and not from how many units a band can shift. Townshend did do a bit of forward thinking by nothing that piracy could be an alternative to making music in obscurity. "A creative person would prefer their music to be stolen and enjoyed than ignored," he said. "This is the dilemma for every creative soul: he or she would prefer to starve and be heard than to eat well and be ignored." Ah yes, the old ego component of the music business. It’s never far away and yet we would all be better off if it were……………
- Behold the power of the angry bank customer with dozens of other options for places to save their money and receive a robust .009 percent interest rate. Bank of America felt that wrath after announcing plans in September to charge a $5 fee for customers who use their debit cards to make purchases. The company announced that it would charging most customers the monthly fee early next year, prompting widespread outrage. Some of the bank’s chief competitors seized upon the opportunity to make BOA look bad by telling the world that they would not charge similar debit-card fees. Faced with a potential mass exodus or some sort of Occupy Bank of America movement, the company revealed Tuesday that it would not be moving forward with plans for implement the new fee system. "We have listened to our customers very closely over the last few weeks and recognize their concern with our proposed debit usage fee," said David Darnell, Bank of America's co-chief operating officer. "Our customers' voices are most important to us. As a result, we are not currently charging the fee and will not be moving forward with any additional plans to do so." Look at you, D-squared. Acting like you gave a damn about what customers thought until they rose up and told you where you could stick your new fee. Don’t tell us that no one associated with this asinine decision could look into the future and realize how unpopular the fee would be. BOA simply felt the blowback wouldn’t be severe enough to force them to change their plan. Prior to announcing the fee, the bank was reportedly considering ways to soften the fee, by offering customers new ways of avoiding it -- like making direct deposits or maintaining minimum balances. Chase and Wells Fargo teamed up last week to make Bank of America look even worse, with both banks canceling pilot programs that would impose debit card fees in certain states. SunTrust, a large regional bank based in Atlanta, joined the party on Monday by announcing it will no longer charge $5 a month for debit card purchases starting Wednesday. Thousands of customers moved their money out of banks that were set to impose debit card fees and the kooks of Occupy Wall Street had been calling for consumers to celebrate "Dump Your Bank Day" next week. A survey by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling conducted a poll that showed 62 percent of consumers would leave their bank if it began charging a debit card fee. Instead, Bank of America who use their debit cards will no longer incur the fee starting in January and the crisis has been averted until banks think of some other detestable way to extort money from customers and the same ugly scene plays out again……….
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